It is safe to say that Tagore continues to be the most prominent figure in the cultural world of our subcontinent.

The poet, writer, philosopher social reformer, patriot and above all, a great humanitarian was the first Asian to be awarded with the Nobel Prize. Even though he is mainly known as a poet, his multifaceted talent showered upon different branches of art such as, novels, short stories, dramas, articles, essays, painting etc. His songs, popularly known as ‘Rabindrasangeet’, have an eternal appeal and are permanently embedded in the hearts of Bengalis.

Tagore was born in a wealthy family in Calcutta. He was the ninth son of Debendranath and Sharada Devi. His grandfather Dwarakanath Tagore was a rich landlord and social reformer. Debendranath also left his name in the history of social reforms as a founder of Brahmo Samaj along with the legendary Raja Rammohun Roy.

Despite the opulence & business environment within which he grew up, his ancestral house at Jorasanko was a hub of cultural activities. He grew up in a musical atmosphere marked by the practice of classical Indian music alongside some measure of interest in Western classical music, the latter being kept alive by sections of Calcutta’s English-educated classes and wealthy patrons of music. Some members of the Tagore-family were proficient in both these traditions of music. This musical scenario influenced a young Tagore with such eclectic sounds as Indian and Western classical notes, ‘tappa’-s and ‘keertan’-s

Impact of Rabindrasangeet on Indian music

His collected works run into 18,000 printed pages in Bengali and have been extensively translated into numerous languages. Today, after 150 years of his birth, while his creative work is critically acclaimed by experts, connoisseurs and by the readers of Bengali literature, his music finds a much broader appeal. It has influenced many other art forms like movies, theatres, dance-dramas, other genres of music. ‘Geetabitan’ (‘A Garden of Songs’), the collection of his 2,300-odd songs, continues to inspire millions of people in the sub-continent and the world. Rather symbolically, the national anthems of India (‘jana gana mana adhinayak jaya hey’) & Bangladesh (‘amaar shonar bangla ami tomay bhalobashi’) epitomize his rich musical legacy. Another neighbouring nation, Sri Lanka’s national anthem, (‘Sri Lanka maatha’) has a significant influence of Tagore’s music. Its creator, Ananda Samarakoon was Tagore's student at Vishwa Bharati – Shantiniketan (the University that was created and run by Tagore).

When we look at the evolution of ‘laghu sangeet’ (light music) in our country, Bengal has been a singular influence. Various talented composers have endeavoured to blend the various genres of our music to make it acceptable for the consumption of millions across the length and breadth of our subcontinent. Great composers like Raichand Boral, Pankaj Kumar Mullick, Sachin Dev Burman, Hemanta Mukherjee, Anil Biswas, Salil Chowdhury, etc have all grown up in the immensely musical ambience of Bengal and then contributed significantly towards the Hindi Film Industry. Even the next generation of composers like Rahul Dev Burman, Rajesh Roshan (his mother was a Bengali), Ravindra Jain (brought up in Bengal) Bappi Lahiri, Shantanu Moitra, Preetam Chakrabarti, etc. have used the flavour of Bengal’s music liberally in their compositions.

The high priest in this temple of amalgamation was undoubtedly Rabindranath Tagore. Bengal boasted of many other great musically poetic personalities like Kazi Nazrul Islam, Atulprasad Sen, Rajanikanta Sen, Dwijendralal Roy etc. They too created a large number of songs that amalgamated music across multiple styles of music. However, Tagore’s position and status among Bengalis is in a different exalted league. To use a cricketing analogy, he was the Donald Bradman in the pantheon of other batting superstars.

Interestingly, Tagore too thought that his most significant achievement was his music. He had commented: "Whatever fate may be in store in the judgment of the future for my poems, my stories and my plays, I know for certain that the Bengali race must necessarily accept my songs: they must all sing my songs in every Bengali home, in the fields and by the rivers. I feel as if music wells up from within some unconscious depth of my mind, that is why it has certain completeness."

Music, like all other arts in India, had stereotyped patterns. There was, and still is, the classical tradition, whether of the north or of the south, which has behind it, centuries of devoted discipline. This has, within its limits, attained near perfection. It is music… pure and abstract, and like all abstract art, its appeal is limited to those who have taken pains to understand, what may be called, its ‘mathematics’. For them, it can be very beautiful. Hauntingly so, in the hands of a master, but ordinarily, its appeal is limited.

The counterpart for the popular taste was the traditional religious & folk music. The varied geographical topology & spiritual nature of our sub-continent gave rise to a rich & multi-hued group of folk & devotional songs, often woven together.

The position was not dissimilar in literature where, before the nineteenth century, there was either the great storehouse of Sanskrit classics or the popular religious lyrics & ballads.

What Tagore achieved in literature he also endeavoured to do in music. While caring for both the traditions, classical and folk, he respected the inviolable sanctity of neither and freely took from each what suited his purpose, made his own whatever he took from other sources.

If his creative contribution in music has perhaps not received the same recognition as his contribution in literature, it is because, in the first place, the classical tradition of music in India, unlike that of literature (with the near-disappearance of Sanskrit) is still very active there was no significant vacuum to be filled.

In fact Tagore did not attempt creation of new forms in abstract music. What he did was to bring it down from its heights and make it keep pace with the popular idiom of musical expression. In this deft blending, the whole became so much greater than the sum of the parts

Another aspect is that his music is inextricably blended with the poetry of words. It is almost impossible to separate the mood from the words and the words from the tune. Each expresses and reinforces the other. Tagore’s work rode the wave of the Bengali renaissance, and his songs, in the sophistication of language and feelings appealed to the then modern Bengali who probably craved polish and sophistication in their mother tongue as well. The same group might have been influenced by the Victorian prudery of their colonial masters and that would also result in the rejection of the then-prevalent music.

The works of Jayadeva & Vidyapati, though rich in content, were gradually losing relevance in the home of the modern Bengali, who was part of the Young Bengal Movement. The ‘old order’ was already in the process of transition & the vacuum created therein was being filled by Tagore. He brought music inside our homes & made it a part of domestic life.

Interestingly, Tagore, in an action, which can now be deemed as a masterstroke, had published a musical work of his under a pseudonym, ‘Bhanusingha’ (‘Bhaanu => Rabi). This work, (Bhaanusingher Padabali’), written in the devotional language of ‘Maithili’, gained acclaim in Bengal. When Tagore revealed that it was his work (as a virtual teenager), it became easier for Bengal to accept the modern form of poetry & music that he ushered in, thereafter. He was perceived as someone who was improving upon the existing art-form & not tarnishing it to be radically different.

Apart from the devotional songs (to celebrate certain festivals), which were the exclusive domain of the ‘andar-mahal’, music was an outside activity, only to be patronized but rarely practised by the Bengali ‘bhadralok’. The preponderance of ‘sringaar rasa’ and celebration of the erotic was probably one of the primary reasons that music was excluded from homes. Tagore would be the first (or one of the first) writers whose lyrics entered the homes of our upper classes or elite, something which could acceptably be sung by modest young women without the need for smelling salts! This was again a reflection of the then-accepted western practice of entertaining guests. The acceptance of Rabindrasangeet must have started in those homes seeking to model their environment into the Bengali version of an English household & later, became the standards for all middle-class households.

With Tagore’s rich tapestry of poetry & music, each change of season, each aspect of his country's rich landscape, every undulation of human heart, in sorrow or in joy has found its voice in some song of his. They are sung in religious gatherings no less than in concert halls. Patriots have mounted the gallows with his songs on their lips; Young lovers, unable to express the depth of their emotions, continue to sing his songs to open the floodgates of their feelings.

This sophisticated blend of lyrics, which fitted in so many situations of one’s life, enabled the songs to enrich the medium of cinema during the first quarter of the 20th Century. Famous production-houses like New Theatres were producing movies with imaginative story-lines & competent music (in fact many of the story-lines were based on Tagore’s literary works). It is in movies like these, that the songs of Tagore lent sophistication to the movies. The ‘modern’ technology of the ‘talkies’ & the contemporary feel of Tagore’s music had a symbiotic impact on each other.

By the latter part of the 20th century, move-makers like Satyajit Ray, Ritwick Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Tarun Majumdar (& many more) used Rabindrasangeet so beautifully at critical inflexion-points of a movie, that it almost became a thumb-rule that the usage of Tagore’s music in a movie elevated the latter’s status into one that was significantly above average. Songs in movies like ‘Meghe Dhaka Taara’, Kanchanjangha, Dada-r Keerti (to name a few) have memorable songs of Tagore in them, that progress the story instead of impeding it.

It may be added that two prolific singer-composers in Bengali movies were Pankaj Mullick & Hemanta Mukherjee, who were fine exponents of Rabindrasangeet too. Thus, movies assigned to them almost always had a song of Tagore. An example can be the breezy comedy of the late 1950-s: Lukochuri. This movie, produced & created in Bombay, with all the leading actors also from Bombay, could have done comfortably with the ‘modern tunes’ that were prevalent, then. Yet, the music director Hemanta Mukherjee saw it fit to include ‘mayabono-biharini horini’ as a romantic duet.

Another striking aspect of his music has been the presence of ‘sanchaari’-s in his songs. Tagore, trained in the classical form of Dhrupad, used the four-phase format (‘chaar-tuk’) of Dhrupad, namely, ‘sthaayi’-antara-sanchaari-abhog’. While most modern songs have a ‘sthaayi’ (also referred as the ‘mukhda’) followed by two or three ‘antara’-s of almost the same tune, Tagore, almost inevitably had a beautiful ‘sanchaari’ between the pair of ‘antara’-s. This became so much of an accepted norm & quintessential style in Bengal that every composer thereafter almost always composed a 4-phase song.

Interestingly Salil Chowdhury & Hemanta Mukherjee (Hemant Kumar), when using their Bengali compositions is Hindi films, consciously discarded the ‘sanchaari’ (barring a few exceptions like ‘o sajna barkha bahaar aayi’, etc). Even when one encounters a hindi song by a non-bengali that has a ‘sanchaari’ (like Ravindra Jain’s ‘har haseen cheez ka talabgaar hoon’), one realizes that Jain had spent most of his early life in Calcutta.

The Components of Rabindrasangeet

Hindustani MusicEver since Nawaab Wajid Ali Shah, the exiled King of Avadh made Metiabruz (a locality in Calcutta) his home in 1856, the musical environment of the city underwent a sea change. The finest exponents of music of that region (modern-day Eastern Uttar Pradesh) started performing, and subsequently, settling down in Calcutta. Some of the finest tutors and exponents of music like Badal Khan, Ganpatrao Bhaiya, Shyamlal Kshetri, Zamiruddin Khan, etc. were the radiating sources of knowledge and inspiration for the Bengalis. Simultaneously, the great courtesans like Mushtaribai, Zohrabai Agrawaali, Malkajaan Agrawaali virtually settled in Calcutta to inspire a generation of local talent like Manadashundari, Purnakumari Daashi, Aaschorjomoyi Daashi, Indubala, Angurbala, etc. This made Calcutta the nerve-centre for all performing musicians. It also gave an opportunity for the home-grown talent to practice and propagate their singing skills.

Another evolution was brought forth by Ramnidhi Gupta (popularly known as ‘Nidhu-babu). He simplified the complex and intricate style of the ‘Tappa’ of the great exponent of Punjab - Shori Miyan. The lightning fast ‘phirat’-s of this style of singing was watered down to a more gentle style that catered to the devotional songs of Bengal. An entire genre of devotional music emerged from this Bangla-Tappa.

A few examples of direct influences of Tappa:

​o miya jaanewale - Kafi tappa (Krishnarao Shankar Pandit)

Tagore’s early training in music was influenced by the Bishnupur gharana. He grew up listening, learning and absorbing the dhrupad and khayal traditions from stalwarts like Jadu Bhatta (his musical tutor), Bishnu Chakraborty, Radhikaprasad Goswami, Srikantha Singha. His elder brother, Jyotirindranath used to experiment with the traditional dhrupad and khayal compositions and encouraged the young Tagore to compose verses to match such raga-based melodies. This was how ‘Rabindrasangeet’ took its early form. Tagore’s early compositions thus were ‘shuddh’, true to the raga and tala systems of dhrupad, dhamar, tappa and sadra. Much like dhrupad, the verses and mood of his songs during this phase were solemn and often dealt with prayer and devotion. This was also in line with the sombre ambience of the prayer gatherings that Tagore was exposed to as an active member of the Brahma Samaj. The members of this Samaj believed in a single, formless, all-pervasive Almighty. The term that was used was ‘Ekamevadwitiyam’ (The Unique One).

A few examples of direct influences of Dhrupad

rumjhum barkhe - Kafi dhamar ​(Ravi Kichlu)

beni nirakhat bhujang ​ (Dagar Brothers)

pratham aadi tabo shakti (Sagar Sen)

It inevitably evolved into a more complex phase where Tagore introduced novelty and improvisations, still within the structure of traditional Hindustani music. The variety and diversity in his poetry compelled him to break away from the norms. This was a phase of intense creativity and experimentation where vast combinations of raag-s and taal-s evolved to create a suitable medium for the varied moods and emotions. His creation transcended beyond mere imitation.

An example of a direct influence:

shukhaheen nishidin (Kamalini Mukherjee)

dara dim – Nat-Malhar tarana (Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta)

dara dim – Nat Malhar tarana (Ajoy Chakraborti)

Traditional Hindustani khayal music gives supreme importance to melody, lyrics play a secondary role. It is rather evident in case of instrumental music where melody is the sole medium of expression. Tagore’s music bridged this gap. His music reached perfection in combining ‘sur’ (melody) and ‘katha’ (poetry) into an inseparable new entity, which became ‘sangeet’ (music).

In Tagore’s own words, “From my early childhood, Hindustani music has filled my ears and mind, but, (while composing) mere imitation will result in a shipwreck.”

Critics have characterized this as, “opposition within the constitution” in his process of creativity.

There is no better way to conclude than quote, Prof. Dhurjatiprasad Mukherjee, the renowned scholar and musicologist:

“Tagore has made the abstract nature of Hindustani music system concrete, has humanized the melodic content, but took extreme care not to lower it from art to mere artifice. In this respect, he is comparable to Beethoven; in our country, a composer of his calibre is yet to be born.”

Here are some examples of how beautifully he used a raag to produce an exquisite Tagore-song, not a ‘raag based song’. When one couples the outstanding poetry that resides within these songs, they attain a quality that is quite unsurpassed.

Raag Bhairav

Raag Bhimpalas

Raag Chhayanat

aaj jaagi pohaalo bibhabori​ (Jaganmay Mitra)

amaar shakal dukher pradip (Sumitra Sen)

jagate anananda-jaggey ​(Subinoy Roy)

Western MusicAt the age of 17, Tagore sailed to England. His father wanted him to become a barrister. While that objective did not fructify, the young Tagore used his time in the British Isles to gain insights into its culture and music. Such was the impact of English, Scottish and Irish songs on Tagore, that he composed several songs based on these tunes. His musical plays, “Valmiki Pratibha” and “Kaal Mrigaya” feature quite a few of these songs. Tagore was struck by the ease with which many of them (the English, Scottish, Irish songs) conveyed emotions such as laughter or merriment, which was unknown in the Indian musical repertoire. Also the polyphonic & harmonised nature of western music was in stark contrast to the melody-driven music of India. Tagore’s dexterity in blending these two styles to create tunes that will appeal to the people of this subcontinent is a pioneering work of the highest quality

Carnatic MusicTagore also experimented with tunes from Carnatic music, though to a lesser extent. In all his compositions, his intent was not to create new ragas but to create melodies that did justice to the expressiveness of his poetry. The young teenage girl, Savithri Krishnan, whom Tagore had met in Chennai, came over to Shantiniketan as a student (on Tagore’s request). Tagore used to hear the famous ‘Krithis’ of the saint poets and composers of the South and imbibed the nuances of Carnatic music in a few of his songs.

Folk MusicAnother phase of Rabindrasangeet was a more complex experiment. Tagore spent a considerable amount of time in the countryside in Selaidaha - East Bengal (now Bangladesh), on his favourite boat on River Padma. Here he found a new source and inspiration for his music: the Bhatiyali songs (boatmen-songs), the Baul-songs, the Keertans & various other forms of folk tunes. Their simplicity and depth moved him. He assimilated these folk songs in his music and gave these a new meaning. This is where he stands out as a musical genius and can claim to be the first and greatest composer of modern India. In this phase, Hindustani music had dissolved with ease into Bhatiyali and Baul songs; but in effect, it was neither, it had become his very own music, Rabindrasangeet.

To conclude, like the Brahmo faith in which he grew up, Tagore’s music absorbed influences from an international heritage. His years in England had fed into it, not only the chamber music of Europe but also the ebullient folk music of the British Isles (Scotland & Wales). So did the folk and tribal songs of his native country side: the simple but densely philosophical baul and sufi songs of the wandering minstrels. The fertile Hindustani classical environment in the city of Kolkata and finally, the traditional devotional songs with their simply expressed but deep sense of worship, sung every morning at home.

These multiple strands had been expertly woven by a master artist into a musical form that reflected them all without conforming to any type, completely. Added to this, lyrics, that captured the deepest of nuanced emotions with the utterly lucid simplicity of his best poetry. One has a body of work that has entwined itself around the hearts of the Bengali speakers across generations.

Some anecdotes regarding his involvement with Classical Music & Musicians

Tagore remained a life-long connoisseur, patron and spokesman of music in general and Indian classical music in particular. His family lineage, his achievements, his global admirers left the fraternity of Indian musicians in awe of this polymath. It is to Tagore’s credit (and our gain) that Tagore accorded the respect that these artists deserved without the uninhibited fawning that they were accustomed to.

In 1934, Tagore inaugurated the first All-Bengal Music Conference in Calcutta. Ustad Faiyyaaz Khan and Ustad Alauddin Khan had performed on this occasion. Tagore used to listen to legendary Ustad-s of his time whenever opportunity arose. A few anecdotes are worthy of mention here.

It was 1924. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan was singing at Dilipkumar Ray’s house in Lucknow (Hirabai accompanied her father). Present in the audience, were Tagore, Gandhi-ji, Sharat Chandra Chatterjee and Atulprasad Sen. Abdul Karim Khan sang Anand-Bhairavi and a few other compositions. Rabindranath listened, as was his habit, with closed eyes, as if in a trance.

In another famous mehfil in the same city of Lucknow in 1935, the performer was Shrikrishna Ratanjankar, the famous scholarly disciple of V N Bhatkhande and Faiyaaz Khan. Ratanjankar had presented khayal-s in Chhayanat, Jaijawanti and Paraj. Tagore’s health (fever with body temperature of 102 degrees) did not deter him from listening till the very end in rapt attention. It raised a number of questions on music and aesthetics in his mind and he discussed these till mid-night with leading musicians and critics present there (like Dhurjatiprasad Mukherjee, Dilipkumar Roy, Atulprasad Sen etc).

On another occasion, in the 1930-s, he was the chief guest at a cultural gathering organized by the students of University of Calcutta. In the huge Senate Hall at College Street, packed to its capacity, Mushtaq Hussain Khan (the great scion of the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana), started his recital. The boisterous students, after a while, started getting impatient. Midway through the Ustad’s recital, they started murmuring about how they had only come to ‘hear Tagore’s poems and songs’. After sometime when the murmurs grew louder and the Ustad paused, an agitated Tagore stepped up on the stage to mildly admonish the audience before requesting the Ustad to resume his recital. At the end of the performance, Tagore stepped up on the stage again, turned towards the Ustad and sang his famous song: ‘tumi kemon kore gaan karo he guni… aami abaak hoye shuni’ (How do you sing so magically, o talented one? I can only listen in amazement’).

Tagore had once invited Faiyyaaz Khan to perform at his ancestral mansion in Jorasanko, Calcutta. Khansaheb sang a dhrupad and khayal in Ramkali, followed by thumri in Bhairavi for the greatest ‘shayer’ (poet) of Hindustan. At the end of the performance, Tagore presented Khansaheb a nazrana of 21 gold ‘mohurs’, a considerable sum in those days. He confided to his close companion about how the great performer ‘blew away this advanced age of his and transported him to his young days of joie de vivre’.

As regards the courtesans the wealthy Bengali had two options. To either patronize them (with visits to the ‘koTha’ or to shun their company/influence for an optical display of morality. Tagore was wonderfully open-minded. While he did not patronize them, he had no qualms in being unabashed admirers of their music and proclaiming it publicly. When the great Mushtaribai was broadcasting a programme from the A.I.R. Station (not very far from Tagore’s residence at Jorasanko), Tagore rushed to the Station to enquire about and meet this ‘apsara from heaven’ (as he described her).

He was an admirer of Zohrabai Agrawaali’s singing skills as was he of Kesarbai Kerkar’s. The latter, a prima donna in her field of music, used to proudly attach the prefix of ‘Surshree’ that Tagore had anointed her with.

A Chronology of Tagore's life

1861: Born on Monday, May 8th, (Baishakh 25, Bengali Era 1268).

1865: Admitted to Calcutta Training Academy.

1868: Admitted to Oriental Seminary and later to Normal School.

1871: Admitted to Bengal Academy.

1873: Goes with his father Debendranath Tagore on a trip to the Himalayas; his first visit to Bolpur on the way, composes a drama, Prithviraj Parajay.

1874: His poem entitled Abhilash appears in the Tattvabodhini Patrika. He is admitted to St. Xavier's School in Calcutta.

1875: On the 11th February, in his first public appearance, recites a patriotic poem at the Hindu Mela.

1881: Composes his first set of devotional songs for anniversary of Brahmo Samaj-Maghotsav. His first musical play, Valmiki-Pratibha staged at Jorasanko.

1883: Marries Mrinalini Devi.

1884: Is appointed Secretary to the Adi Brahmo Samaj, enters into controversy with Bankimchandra over the neo-Hindu movement.

1885: Takes charge of Balak, a monthly magazine for the young.

1890: Severely attacks the anti-Indian policy of Lord Cross, then Secretary of State for India. Takes charge of the management of the Tagore Estates with Selaidah as his headquarters.

1891: Writes his first six short stories including Post Master.

1892: At the request of the Rajshahi Association writes his first criticism of the system of education, Shikshar Herpher, a logical and vigorous proposal for the acceptance of mother tongue as the medium of instruction.

1894: Takes over editorial charge of Sadhana.

1898: Initiates agricultural experiments on his estates. Sedition Bill; arrest of Bal Gangadhar Tilak; he reads his paper Kantha-Rodh (The Throttled) at a public meeting in Calcutta.

1899: At the anniversary of 7 Poush, leads the prayer and delivers his first sermon on Brahmoponishad in the Mandir at Shantiniketan.

1901: Establishes school at Shantiniketan. Revives Bangadarshan, editing it for five years. Comes into contact with Brahmabandhab Upadhyay.

1905: Agitation against Lord Curzon's proposal to partition Bengal. Rabindranath advocates policy of constructive non-cooperation against the British. On 16th October (the day partition becomes a settled fact), Rabindranath initiates the Rakhi-bandhan ceremony as a symbol of unity in Bengal. Leads a huge procession through the streets of Calcutta singing Banglar mati, Banglar jal.

1906: Writes a series of articles on problems of education and draws up a comprehensive programme of work for the National Council of Education.

1908: Initiates organised village uplift work in the Patisar region of the Tagore estates with the help of Kalimohan Ghosh and others.

1910: Christmas Day is observed at Shantiniketan for the first time - the Poet conducts the service.

1912: English Geetanjali published by the India Society, London.

1913: English versions of Geetanjali, The Crescent Moon, The Gardener and Chitra were published by Macmillan. On 13th November, Rabindranath was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1914: Gandhi's students from Phoenix, South Africa come to Shantiniketan.

1915: Receives knighthood. Meets Gandhi for the first time.

1916: Travels to Japan and USA, giving lectures on Nationalism and Personality.

1917: Lends support to Pramatha Chaudhuri's attempts to popularise spoken Bengali as a vehicle of literary expression and himself contributes to Sabujpatra, his first story written in colloquial Bengali, Paila Nambar.

1922: Rural Reconstruction Institute at Sriniketan is formally inaugurated with Elmhirst as its first director.

1923: Vishwa-Bharati Quarterly starts publication under his editorship. Visarjan is staged at the Empire Theatre, Calcutta where the Poet plays the role of Jaysingha.

1924: Visits China and Japan and then sails for South America; stays in Buenos Aires as the guest of Victoria Ocampo.

1926: Travels to Italy (as a guest of Mussolini), Switzerland (where he meets Romain Rolland) and other countries of Europe.

1927: Tour of Southeast Asia.

1928: Starts painting regularly.

1930: His paintings are exhibited at the Gallerie Pigalle in Paris. Other exhibitions follow in Birmingham, in several European capitals and in USA. Delivers Hibbert lectures in Oxford (published as The Religion of Man). Writes The Child, his one and only original English poem.